Apr. 8, 2013

The faces of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting are seen behind Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., as she speaks Feb. 27, 2013, about gun control legislation before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. / Susan Walsh/Associated Press

Written by

Detroit Free Press Editorial Board

It’s the epitome of common sense, the kind of logical connection between public policy and preferred outcomes that should warm any lawmaker’s heart. (OK, it should at least appeal to their best policy-making instincts.)

Everyone — gun enthusiasts and firearm opponents alike — agrees that criminals shouldn’t have guns. Nor should the mentally ill. Universal background checks are one way to help stop the flow of guns to those inappropriate hands.

But even in the wake of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., and the increased American understanding that the proliferation of weapons, in all kinds of hands, is part of the problem, the slavish GOP congressional allegiance to the nation’s gun lobby is holding sway in Washington.

Several senators are now threatening a filibuster to prevent a vote on a measure that would require background checks for any gun, purchased anywhere.

Unbelievable, really.

There’s no defensible argument against background checks. Study after study has shown that they prevent sales to inappropriate buyers, help discourage those inappropriate buyers from even trying to obtain weapons legally, and even help disrupt the illegal market for firearms.

There’s also no proof that background checks confound legal gun sales. Most gun advocates approve of them, because the best argument for legal gun ownership is the overwhelming number of gun owners who follow the law and the rules. And let’s face it, proving you can legally own a gun is no more burdensome than proving you can legally own a car, or buy a home. Given the lethality of firearms — and the cultural connection they have to violence and murder in American society — the hurdles to legal ownership are quite reasonable.

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But, of course, the gun lobby, whose sole aim is to sell weapons, is the major hurdle to expanding background checks. Notice: We aren’t talking about Second Amendment advocates or gun owners, but gun sellers. The money they make is what could be threatened by expanding background checks. And so they’re pressuring members of Congress (those who take gun lobby money, at least) to stand in the way.

Of course, there are GOP standouts who have resisted. Sen. John McCain of Arizona says this ought to come up for a vote. A bipartisan effort, led by Republican Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Mark Kirk of Illinois, with Democrats Charles Schumer of New York and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, expects to produce a bill to vote on this week.

What a shame it would be if anyone used a filibuster to deny a vote. It’s not just off-base, protecting the indefensible from a policy standpoint. It’s cowardly, denying an up or down, on the record vote for critical legislation.